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it,” Mikel said. He was arranging her tangled
hair, or trying.
    “Then
treat it we shall,” Felix announced, and before she could react, his strong
arms wrapped around her and she was lifted into the air as if she weighed no
more than a tomato. Another tremble of fear pulsed through her, and she pushed
at his block-like shoulder.
    “No.
Put me down. I don’t mind a bruise.”
    “But
we mind it most certainly, both because we triggered it, but because you are
ours—” Mikel said as he stood next to her, again staring at the lump on her
forehead.
    “I’m
not yours. I’m no one’s. I’m mine.” Alisa was suddenly angry. Angry with her
own volatility, angry that these big men assumed so much, angry at not knowing
who or what she was supposed to be any more.
    “Let
us help you, please. We wish to make amends,” Felix whispered in her ear, and
she shivered. He still held her steady as gravity and weariness filled her.
    “I
can walk.” Her protest was met with a silent beat, but after that slight
hesitation, Felix gently set her down. She was quiet for a moment, undone by
his quick acquiescence. She turned toward the brick living quarters, each man
close to her sides as she tottered toward refuge. She briefly wondered how the
two Alphans were going to explain their presence in
the off-limits area, but soon decided she didn’t care. Her head hurt too much.
    ****
    “Absolutely
unacceptable behavior,” Commandant Offen said as he
leaned back in his chair. “I can’t imagine what you were thinking, Felix.”
    Their
commanding officer shook his head and stared at first him, then Mikel. Everyone
always looked to him first, Felix mused with some resentment. No one would
believe him if he said the entire episode had originated with his bondmate’s
impulsive inspiration to drop by with flowers for Alisa. Mikel had claimed it
would be clearly “romantic”, whatever that meant. Felix had tuned out much of
the human cultural minutia his partner had spouted ever since he’d consumed
that etiquette book in one reading. Well, it had turned out poorly. The flowers
were abandoned on the sidewalk by the fence, Alisa had become frightened of
them, they’d caused an uproar with human and Alphan
diplomats alike, and somehow because his bondmate rarely spoke up, Ivar was
laying blame on him.
    “The
last thing we want to do is leave the impression that our warriors are out of
control, not that these humans practice any sort of restraint among themselves.
Our welcome on this tawdry planet is tenuous enough.” Offen laced his fingers together and glared across the top of his bare and polished
desk. The suite of offices for visiting Alphans was
housed in a former academic building, and space was at a premium. Their
commander had managed to arrange to have a large corner office nevertheless,
with tall windows that looked out over a pleasant lawn dotted with green-leafed
trees. This was such a peaceful island in the midst of all the chaos on this
planet.
    “Perhaps
you should consider deferring your service here and return to Alpha. It might
cool the furor if you are gone.”
    Felix
went still, and he sensed Mikel’s immediate alert. That course of action was
out of the question until they’d formalized their bond with Alisa. At this
rate, it would take several months before they were able to say more than three
words to her without something going wrong. “Are the humans that outraged?”
    Ivar
shrugged. “It’s hard to say. They tend to act aggrieved over the slightest
thing. I’m more concerned with our fellow Alphans .”
    “What
do you mean, sir?” Mikel asked, leaning forward slightly in his chair.
    “Well,
leaping over a wall to get at a woman rather flies in the face of the
procedures we have in place,” their commander said with a slight smirk. He was
referring to the system whereby Alphans of rank had
first priority whenever a social occasion involving available females occurred.
He and Mikel had only managed